Shimmer Report tells of a couple who do not fall in love so
much as ascend together into love from their own dark places. He, a
poet, musician, teacher; she, a visual artist and author, has also had
to endure the psychiatric system. Life and love are but a shimmer—but
this is a report on hard realities, as well as on flashes of colour,
delight, and whimsy.

Years of suffering
like gas into flame
have drawn air
into your light—
a leaping, lambent figure
in mist, burning bright

“Shimmer Report is a book of searing honesty and shy
grace. To read its poems becomes an act of witness as Brian Campbell
explores his city and his heart, evoking the requirements of love as
well as the vexed nuances of survival. I admire his courage.”
~ Mark Abley, author of The Tongues of Earth

“In Brian Campbell’s Shimmer Report, the poet asks,
“What dilemma is this now?” Using urban, multi-language Montreal for a
backdrop, and a palette of telling details in shades of wit and
compassion, Campbell explores today’s creativity and relationships
through echoes and upshots of complicated pasts. These are poems of love
and survival—in spite of, and because of, the curiosities of the world
we live in.”
~ Maxianne Berger, author of un renard roux/a red fox

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About Me

Brian Campbell is a poet, singer-songwriter, editor, translator, photographer and teacher. His third full-length poetry collection, Shimmer Report, was published by Ekstasis Editions in 2015. He is also the author of Remnants of Autumn (Sky of Ink Press photobook, 2016), A Private Collection (Sky of Ink Press chapbook, 2014),Passenger Flight (Signature Editions, 2009), Guatemala and Other Poems (1994) and Undressing the Night (Editorial Lunes, Costa Rica, 2007), a translation of the selected poems of Francisco Santos. His poetry, reviews and essays have appeared in numerous reviews, including Saranac Review, New Quarterly, Prairie Fire, and The Rover. A finalist in the 2006 CBC Literary Award for Poetry, he is also co-founder/editor of Sky of Ink Press, which prints quality poetry chapbooks. His independent music CD, The Courtier’s Manuscript, was released in 2002.